1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to sleeping bags and in particular to a lightweight disposable and well cushioned sleeping bag for use by fire fighters, disaster relief crews, military personnel and the like.
2. Background Art
There are numerous occasions when large groups of people must be mobilized and relocated to a temporary camp or location for a number of days, weeks or even months. The logistical duties associated with a large scale mobilization of personnel are many and include providing each crew member with a warm and comfortable place to sleep. The logistics technician is faced with the task of balancing the crew's comfort level against the cost and bulk of the support equipment provided. As a result, lightweight disposable sleeping bags have been developed as a partial solution to the problem of where, and what in, a crew member is suppose to sleep. The United States government purchases tens of thousands of these disposable sleeping bags a year to outfit various government agencies.
The prior art solution has a sleeping bag manufactured from paper and filled with a hollow polyester fiber batting. There are several disadvantages to this type of bag, including both an insufficient amount of padding between the ground and the sleeper, making the bag uncomfortable and the propensity of the sleeping bag to absorb ground moisture.
Other prior art sleeping bags are taught in Ozier, U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,170 and Nicholson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,695. Ozier teaches a disposable sleeping bag which is manufactured from paper and has a plastic or other water impervious material bonded to the outside surface. Nicholson teaches a paper sleeping bag made from crinkle or crepe paper to add an element of elasticity. Obviously, since both of these bags are made from paper, they are prone to tearing and multilation.
What is needed is a disposable lightweight sleeping bag which is not susceptible to absorbing moisture from the ground and which provides additional padding and insulation from the group to the user. Accordingly, objects of the present invention include providing a lightweight disposable sleeping bag which is cost efficient, comfortable, warm, and will not absorb ground moisture.